


Fireflies

by pro_fangirl



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, I honestly don't know where May is in this story, Irondad, Light Angst, Nightmares, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Pepper and Morgan make guest appearances, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker has PTSD, Post-Endgame, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Lives, Tony lives in my world, because screw canon, but still, it's more of a side hug, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 04:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19760392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pro_fangirl/pseuds/pro_fangirl
Summary: Sometimes it's the smallest things that help us heal.





	Fireflies

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been collecting dust for a while, but I saw Far From Home a few days ago so I decided to post it. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Tony wasn’t exactly sure what woke him up. All he knew was that he found himself swinging his legs over the side of his bed and getting up at one in the morning.

His legs woke up before his mind did, so when the lingering traces of sleep had been washed away and rubbed out from his eyes, he found himself at the door of Morgan’s room. 

Slowly opening it, he peered in, still not sure what was prompting this. 

Morgan was fast asleep under her comforter. Her stomach rose rhythmically as she breathed gently. She clutched the stuffed rabbit Peter had bought her tightly to her chest.

Speaking of Peter…

Tony was moving again, more awake this time. Down the hall, to another doorway that he had stood in too many times to count the past five years. To a doorway that Tony had broken down in multiple times, clutching the door frame until he could no longer feel his hands and his mouth had tasted the salt of his tears. To a doorway that belonged to a room that stayed empty for five years because Tony insisted that one day it would have an occupant. 

It had taken five long years, but now the room did indeed house an occupant. Although to Tony, Peter was more than just an occupant. 

He was Tony’s pride and joy. He was also Tony’s deepest sorrow, regret, and failure (the failure was on Tony’s part, though, not Peter’s. Never Peter’s). He was the part of Tony that had been missing for five years. The part that Tony had just recently reclaimed, and that he would now hold onto forever. 

He was also not in his bed. 

And now Tony knew instantly why he’d woken up. It was some sort of parental instinctively he’d developed with Morgan. Some weird sense of knowing when something was wrong, or even just _off_. 

And something was definitely off now. 

As soon as it clicked in Tony’s mind that _Peter wasn’t asleep in his bed,_ he was worried but not so much surprised. 

With the exception of the first night after the big battle against Thanos when adrenaline had worn off leaving everyone bone tired, Peter had been woken by nightmares every night. 

But (and this was the part that had Tony worried) Peter didn’t just disappear. When Tony came in he was normally sitting up in his bed, usually unruly curls flattened on his forehead by sweat. 

Now, however, he wasn’t there. 

Tony stepped into the room and looked up at the ceiling, experience telling him that _nowhere_ was off limits for Peter.

Peter wasn't on the ceiling, and a quick examination told Tony that he wasn’t in the room at all. 

Panic wormed its way into Tony’s mind. He shoved it back down, telling himself that just because Peter wasn't in his room didn’t mean something bad. 

A five minute search showed that Peter wasn’t sleep-crawling on the ceiling, going to the bathroom, or tucked away in the linen closet. He didn’t seem to be upstairs, and the suppressed panic and worry was crawling up Tony’s throat again.

When Tony has first seen Peter after he’d come back, when he’d hugged him despite the bloody battle raging on around them, Tony has made a silent promise that he was never, _ever,_ going to lose Peter again or let him do anything even remotely dangerous. Unless he wanted to continue as Spider-Man, and then Tony was going to make a suit that was invincible to everything. He might even swaddle Peter in bubble wrap.

But somehow, in the first two weeks since Peter had been back, Tony had managed to lose him.

“Peter,” Tony half whispered as he made his way down the stairs. “Come on, kid, where are you?”

The only answer was a soft breeze that kissed Tony’s face.

_What?_

His feet on the step where two and a half weeks ago Morgan had sat asking for a juice pop, Tony had a clear view of the front door. 

It was cracked open allowing a small breeze to enter the room. Tony was about ninety-nine point nine percent sure that he had closed and locked the door when he’d gone to bed.

So that meant that Peter…

Heart racing and praying that Peter hadn’t done something stupid, Tony stepped outside. 

Peter hadn’t run off or gone Spider-manning. He was sitting in a chair on the porch staring into the night.

Relief fluttered in Tony’s heart.

“Peter?”

Tony had spoken in a whisper but even so Peter whipped around, alarm in his eyes. As soon as his eyes met Tony’s he relaxed, but Tony still felt for him. Tony couldn’t even talk to his kid without him freaking out.

“Oh, it’s you. Sorry, Mister Stark, I was going to go inside soon, I promise,”

Tony cut him off. “It’s alright. The air’s cooler out here anyways.”

There was a moments silence while Peter went back to staring out into the blackness of the night. 

Tony sighed inwardly. He had hoped Peter would keep talking (the kid usually talked his head off) but apparently it was up to Tony to prompt the conversation. 

“You okay, kiddo?” he asked, knowing very well that Peter _wasn’t,_ but not knowing what else to ask. 

“I’m fine,” Peter said quickly. Too quickly.

“Want to try that again.”

Peter sighed. “Why do adults do that? Ask a question, I mean, that they already think they know the answer to.”

_Because adults are terrible at having conversations with kids so we don’t know what else to ask._

“I don’t know, kiddo. But seriously, _are you okay?_ Did you have another nightmare? Because if you did, that’s okay. God knows how many nightmares I had after New York, or even now.”

“Yeah,” Peter admitted with a sigh. “But I felt bad that I keep waking you up, so FRIDAY said if I came back to bed in half an hour and if I have another one to promise to wake you, she wouldn’t wake you up this time. I wasn’t planning on coming outside, but I looked out the window and there were fireflies, so I came out here and I kinda forgot about everything, so I wasn’t keeping track of time.” 

His kid was rambling, and Tony let a small smile form. Of course Peter would get sidetracked by fireflies. He was too pure for it to be anything else. Tony knew he should be happy about it. In his youth he’d been sidetracked by way worse things. 

Peter was still talking. Something about how he’s fine. Really. He’s okay, and there is no reason for Tony to worry, and he’s sorry he keeps waking him up, but FRIDAY insists that Tony knows, and-

“So, fireflies…”

Peter sucked in a breath. “Yeah, um, fireflies.” 

Tony stepped forward so he was right by Peter’s side. He looked out into the night and sure enough, there were floating dots of light. There was a strange beauty about it, and Tony could see why it would be soothing to Peter. 

He wrapped an arm around Peter, pulling him close, hand subconsciously going to Peter’s curls. 

Tony spends the next twenty minutes half listening as Peter talked about how the flashes of light were how the fireflies communicated and other random facts about fireflies that only a nerd such as Peter would know. He lets himself get lost in the tiny luminous bugs flying around and the warmth of Peter’s body against his. 

He knows that these fireflies won’t help Peter’s PTSD (which he hasn’t actually been diagnosed with, but Tony knows he is definitely suffering from), not by a long shot. They won’t help the nightmares to go away or the anxiety to lessen, but they can distract him. They can remind Peter (and Tony himself) that there is still beauty in their broken world. They can remind them that sometimes it’s better to put your worries aside for a moment and seek out something small to focus on. They can remind them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And for Tony that’s a good enough of a start. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I think it's fair to say Endgame ruined me. And what little I had left was destroyed by FFH. So this is my way of dealing with it. This story popped up in my head one night while I was looking at fireflies, and so I decided to write it. I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Have a great day, and God bless.


End file.
